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Description
The Republic F-119 Thunderhawk is a personal creation which uses elements from various jet fighters including the Republic F-105 Thunderchief and the Saab J37 Viggen, among others.
The story behind the design ending up in the hands of the Soviets goes as follows: When Alexander de Seversky settled in America in the early 1930s, he employed some workers of Russian origin. Some of these continued to work for the company after it became Republic, but one of them secretly sent data to the USSR after the war, where a parallel Severski Aviatsiya company (the "i" in the transcription reflecting that difference) had been set up by other family members.
When the Severski Se-13 Gromsokol was discovered by the West, it became clear that there was a mole within the company, and all work was halted on the never-finished US prototype. The Soviet copy was demonstrated but to remove some of the Cold War tensions, the Kremlin decided not to use the aircraft in service. However, the few examples that had already been built (14 of them) were sold to Northern Arabistan and successfully operated throughout the 1980s, until lack of support condemned them to early retirement...
"Don't believe everything you read!"
© Stéphane Beaumort / AviaDesign 2010
The story behind the design ending up in the hands of the Soviets goes as follows: When Alexander de Seversky settled in America in the early 1930s, he employed some workers of Russian origin. Some of these continued to work for the company after it became Republic, but one of them secretly sent data to the USSR after the war, where a parallel Severski Aviatsiya company (the "i" in the transcription reflecting that difference) had been set up by other family members.
When the Severski Se-13 Gromsokol was discovered by the West, it became clear that there was a mole within the company, and all work was halted on the never-finished US prototype. The Soviet copy was demonstrated but to remove some of the Cold War tensions, the Kremlin decided not to use the aircraft in service. However, the few examples that had already been built (14 of them) were sold to Northern Arabistan and successfully operated throughout the 1980s, until lack of support condemned them to early retirement...
"Don't believe everything you read!"
© Stéphane Beaumort / AviaDesign 2010
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Comments7
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I love these "what ifs"!
Small correction on the Russian side of its name. Seversky with a Y is Russian. Severski with an I is Polish. The reason is that in Russian this name would be Северский, which can be transliterated either as Severskiy or Seversky, but never Severski. That would be the Polish version of the name. Very imaginative that "Gromsokol" too, a literal translation of the name Thunderhawk. In Russian it would be Громкий Сокол / Gromkiy Sokol, which, OK, can be shortened to Gromsokol.
Small correction on the Russian side of its name. Seversky with a Y is Russian. Severski with an I is Polish. The reason is that in Russian this name would be Северский, which can be transliterated either as Severskiy or Seversky, but never Severski. That would be the Polish version of the name. Very imaginative that "Gromsokol" too, a literal translation of the name Thunderhawk. In Russian it would be Громкий Сокол / Gromkiy Sokol, which, OK, can be shortened to Gromsokol.